Accuser, wife dicker over dirty details

NEW HAVEN  The wife of a former city teacher described her husbands body for a Superior Court jury Wednesday, giving a detail that contradicts the description given by a former student who claims to have had sex with him.

Michelle Tuccitto

Published 12:00 am, Thursday, December 18, 2003

Van McKenzie Adams, 42, who taught Latin at Hill Regional Career High School, is accused of having sex with two female students who were 16 years old at the time. State law prohibits sexual contact between a teacher and student, even if it is consensual.

Only one of the two alleged victims claims to have seen Adams pubic area. When asked to describe it earlier in the trial, the woman, whom the Register is not identifying, said he was circumcised and had pubic hair.

Defense witness Rose Marie McKenzie, the wife of the accused, told jurors that her husband shaves his pubic hair and has done so for at least five years, under questioning by defense attorney Diane Polan.

The sexual misconduct is alleged to have happened in 2001.

McKenzie also testified about her husbands schedule  such as when he finished work and when their children had to be put on the bus and picked up.

"Part of the defense is that he couldnt possibly be having sex on all the occasions alleged when he had all these other obligations," Polan said, outside the jurys presence.

Rose Marie McKenzie said the two students in question used to call the house. Her husband gave his home number to all his students, she said.

"One would call and she would sound like she was crying and ask for him," McKenzie said.

"I said I felt they were calling too much, and he couldnt save the world." Prosecutor Eugene Calistro Jr. asked the defendants wife if she loves her husband, and she responded with "Yes."

"You wouldnt want to see him in trouble?" he asked.

McKenzie again responded with "Yes." She also testified that she is loyal to her husband and believes he is loyal to her.

A second defense witness, the stepmother of one of the alleged victims, had sought a restraining order against her stepdaughter, court documents show. The Register is also not naming the step-mother to protect the former students privacy.

"We had problems, an argument, and I felt threatened by her," the stepmother said in Spanish through an interpreter. "I felt fearful because of the way she was talking to me."

When Polan asked the woman if she had an opinion regarding her stepdaughters truthfulness, she first said "No," but later said, "I thought that she had lied." The witness did not elaborate on what her stepdaughter had allegedly been dishonest about.

As the case hinges on the word of the alleged victims, Polan has been trying to undermine their credibility.

The Board of Education fired Adams in 2001 after his tempo-rary teaching certification expired. The trial continues today.